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Intern Travis here. As an avid classroom laptop user at my humble university I am intrigued by the latest news of professors banning laptops in the classroom. Some professors supporting the ban include June Entman at the University of Memphis and Charles Mooney at the University of Pennsylvania—Mooney has had a ban on laptops going on two years.

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What's to blame? Poker, of course. Well, poker along with other sorts of attention-distracting activities such as surfing, IM'ing or even—ahem—blogging. Entman said that laptops in the classroom were turning students into stenographers and inhibiting classroom discussion. Her students filed a complaint that was quickly dismissed.

I kind of agree with Entman. With universities across the nation getting wireless access everywhere, these distractions could definitely be a problem in some of the more boring...sorry, gotta jet—my geology professor is yelling at me.